‘Beetle Bailey’ artist dies at age 94

Mort Walker, whose “Beetle Bailey” comic strip followed the exploits of a lazy G.I. and his inept cohorts at the dysfunctional Camp Swampy, and whose dedication to his art form led him to found the first museum devoted to the history of cartooning, died Saturday at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 94. The cause was pneumonia.

In contrast with the work-shirking soldier he immortalized, Walker was a man of considerable drive and ambition. He drew his daily comic strip for 68 years, longer than any other U.S. artist in the history of the medium.

Debuting in 1950, “Beetle Bailey” was distributed by King Features Syndicate and eventually reached 200 million readers in 1,800 newspapers in more than 50 countries.

Starting in 1954, Walker wrote another hit cartoon, the widely syndicated family strip “Hi and Lois.” Sons Brian and Greg Walker, who have written “Hi and Lois” since the 1980s and assisted Walker with Beetle gags and inking since the 1970s, will continue to produce “Beetle Bailey.”

Walker also devoted himself to establishing a museum for the comic strip. In 1974, with a check from the Hearst Foundation, he opened the Museum of Cartoon Art in a mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. The museum relocated several times and closed in 2002. In 2008, its more than 200,000 pieces became part of Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum.